1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to global federation of Wide Area Motion Imagery (WAMI) web services.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A client program can access an HTTP or HTTPS URL, and if permitted, can gain access to data residing on computers located at more than one geographically separate location.
WAMI is a Large Volume Streaming Data, or Wide Area Surveillance Imagery, or Wide Area Airborne Surveillance, or Wide Area Persistent Surveillance Imagery. In general, a WAMI image frame includes one or more images captured using one or more sensors in a spectrum, for example the electromagnetic spectrum, or a projection of a spectrum (e.g., colorized representations of elevation, sonar, and seismic data) at substantially the same instant in time such that the effective logical image derived from, for example multiple images, covers a large geographic area (e.g., 15 kilometers by 15 kilometers), at a relatively high geospatial resolution (e.g., 0.5 meters). A WAMI data capture system may acquire a WAMI image several times per second, at a reasonably constant frequency (e.g., 2 WAMI frames per second). WAMI data is collected for a prolonged period in time, for example for 5 hours, 24 hours, or more. WAMI data collected over a single geographic region or over an extended swath of a geographic region. The WAMI data is either stored in camera space without changing pixels in the captured data, as one or more images per WAMI image frame, or in geographically corrected space, for example ortho-rectified, as a one image per WAMI image frame. A WAMI image frame is stored on a computer storage device such as a clustered storage solution, an object storage device, or a computer hard disk. Hence, WAMI data refers to a plurality WAMI image frames. A single WAMI collection refers to a set of spatiotemporally related WAMI image frames. For example, a WAMI collection is a set of temporally sequential WAMI frames over substantially the same geographic region. A WAMI collection may also include one or more WAMI collections. A location of WAMI data is a physical geographic location where one or more storage solutions, networking and computer equipment is utilized to store WAMI data and disseminate WAMI data. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,290,346 to Ernst et al. discusses a form of WAMI imagery, referring to WAMI imagery in the U.S. Pat. No. 8,290,346 patent as Large Format Video.
Basic interchange of computer data between a client program and a server program is a well-known technology. A client program communicates with a server program using a communication protocol over a network, for example a Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN) or the Internet. Examples of a communication protocol are TCP, UDP, HTTP, HTTPS, or socket-based communication. A client program sends a request for data to a server program. Based on that request, a server sends data to the client that is a response to the request. One or more server programs running on a network, for example LAN or the Internet or the WWW, is also referred to as a Web Service.
The client program and the server program may be running on the same computer or on separate computers. In addition, a client program may be running on one or more computers. Furthermore, a server program may also be running on one or more computers. The computers running a client program and a server program communicate with each other via the network. For example, the computers can be connected to each other in some form over the network.
Server and client programs follow some type of communication protocol to be able to understand each other. For example, a client may ask a server about its capabilities. The server may respond, for example, with a list of services the server offers. The client can utilize the services to fulfill its goals by making additional requests to the server. A client program may include a set of one or more computer programs. A server program may also include a set of one or more computer programs.
When a computer software program running on a computer system wishes to access data on another computer system over a computer network (e.g. LAN, WAN, or Internet), it can employ the method of caching. In computer science, a cache is a component that transparently stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster. For example, if a computer software program is frequently accessing a file or data over the computer network, and the file or data does not change frequently, it can cache the data on a storage system (e.g., hard disk, storage area network, or network attached storage system) or in computer memory (e.g., RAM), that is accessible to the computer software program. This action is referred to in this application as storing the data in a local cache, or local caching. The local cache can be a portion of volatile computer memory (e.g. RAM), or non-volatile computer storage (e.g. SSD, hard disk, storage area network, or network attached storage system).
The HTTP protocol is popular and a well-known standard over a computer network, for example, LAN, WAN and the internet or the World Wide Web (WWW). One current HTTP protocol version is HTTP 1.1 and is described in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) RFC 2616. The HTTP 1.0 standard is another version of the HTTP protocol.
WAMI web services pertain specifically to HTTP or HTTPS based WAMI web services. A server that implements a WAMI web service provides at least a portion of WAMI data to an interested and permitted consumer client program. There are several types of WAMI web services that deliver at least a portion of WAMI data to a client program. The web services are generally categorized into the following:    a. WAMI COLLECTION SERVICE: A WAMI Collection Service, also referred in this document as a WAMI:CS or CS, provides information about one or more WAMI collections at a specific location. A WAMI:CS is based on HTTP or HTTPS protocol. For example, OGC® Web Mapping Service, Web Feature Service, and Web Coverage Service are a set of well-known web services protocols for dissemination of geospatial imagery. For example, web services specifications for a WAMI:CS are published by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) on their website at www.opengeospatial.org/standards/bp as document number OGC 12-032r2.    b. WAMI ALERT SERVICE: A WAMI Alert Service, also referred in the OGC 12-032r2 document as a WAMI:A or A, provides information about updates to one or more WAMI collections by a WAMI:CS at a specific location. A WAMI:A is based on HTTP or HTTPS protocol. For example, a WAMI:A runs at the same location as a WAMI:CS. Information about a specific WAMI:A web service is published, for example, by the OGC under the GeoRSS specification.    c. WAMI IMAGE SERVICE: A WAMI Image Service, also referred in the OGC 12-032r2 document as a WAMI:IS or IS, delivers an image in a known format from a client program defined area of interest (AOI) from a WAMI Image from a WAMI Collection. An AOI may also be referred to as a region of interest (ROI). A WAMI:IS may also further expand such a service to deliver one or more AOIs in a single web service request. A WAMI:IS may also further expand such a service to deliver metadata about one or more WAMI frames. A WAMI:IS is based on HTTP or HTTPS protocol. For example, as part of metadata for a WAMI collection within a WAMI:CS, an HTTP or HTTPS link to a WAMI:IS is also provided. For example, web services specifications for a WAMI:IS are published by the OGC as document number OGC 12-032r2.    d. WAMI VIDEO SERVICE: A WAMI Video Service, also referred in the OGC 12-032r2 document as a WAMI:VS or VS, provides a client program defined area of interests (AOI) from one or more WAMI Images from a WAMI Collection, as a video in a known format. An AOI may also be referred to as a region of interest (ROI). A WAMI:VS may also further expand such a service to deliver metadata about one or more WAMI frames. A WAMI:VS is based on HTTP or HTTPS protocol. For example, as part of metadata for a WAMI collection within a WAMI:CS, an HTTP or HTTPS link to a WAMI:VS is also provided. For example, web services specifications for a WAMI:VS are published by the OGC as document number OGC 12-032r2.    e. WAMI DISCOVERY SERVICE: A WAMI Discovery Service, also referred in the OGC 12-032r2 document as WAMI:D or D, provides a client program an XML, KML, or JSON, or a web resource in a known format with metadata comprising of an inverted arborescence tree-like structure permitting a client program to visualize the data geographically and enable a client program to build the ability to allow a user or computer program to mine through the data in order to search for a specific element or elements of information. If a WAMI:D is serving WAMI Metadata in KML or KMZ format, it is represented as WAMI:DK or DK. For example, the OGC publishes a KML Specification on their website.
There are several other WAMI web services that co-exist with specified WAMI web services. For example, WAMI Raw Data Service or WAMI:RS or RS can provision raw WAMI camera space data to an interested and permitted client program. WAMI Search Service or WAMI:S or S would provide a general search interface on top of all WAMI and non-WAMI metadata.